He shrugs, still smiling. “Heard you had a situation…thought I’d check in. Maybe offer some help while I’m at it.”
I study him, every detail, every flicker behind those icy eyes. Nothing about Mike is accidental. “You’re just in time,” I say, letting my tone sharpen. “This is about Raelyn. Anyone who reaches for her gets more than a warning.”
His grin tightens slightly, amused. “I thought you’d say that,” he replies. “Because I intercepted chatter,” he says casually, as if tossing a grenade across the table. “Markov’s men aren’t just mobilizing for intimidation. Someone wants Raelyn…taken alive. Someone other than Markov.”
My chest tightens. Cold. Precise. Every muscle in my body stiffens.
Mike leans over the table, flipping open a file.
“I put this together for you.” He tosses it to me with a faint smirk. I catch it, my fingers brushing the papers inside—surveillance photos, transcripts, logs. Then I see it.
A single image, frozen in time, and it steals my breath: Samuel Reed leaving a warehouse. Not just any warehouse—one tied to Markov’s distribution meetings.
The same Samuel Reed who told Raelyn her father was dead.
I stare at the photo, pulse hammering. My blood feels like ice. Every instinct screams the same truth: Reed lied. And now, everything is about to explode.
I clamp the file shut, my fingers white around the edge. “He dies,” I growl, voice low, lethal, unwavering. “And if anyone else reaches for her…they won’t get a warning.”
Mike tilts his head, cautious. “Reed might not be the mastermind, Konstantin. He could just be a pawn. But whoever’s running this…they want Hart’s evidence. And now they want Raelyn.”
I don’t even flinch at the words. My control snaps—not a slow burn, not a measured response. Pure, unfiltered fury locks every nerve in my body.
“I’ll find him. And I’ll bury him alive if I have to,” I say, teeth clenched. “Markov, Reed…whoever thinks they can touch her—they will regret it. Every second. Every breath.”
Mike doesn’t laugh, but his crooked smile is sharper, approving. “This isn’t the Konstantin I remember. When did you become a lovesick puppy?”
I don’t answer Mike. I don’t give him the satisfaction.
I turn and leave him standing there, already moving up the stairs, my pulse locked on one thing—her. Every instinct drags me back to Raelyn like gravity. I haven’t seen Mike in years, but none of that matters now. Not the files. Not the war plans. Not the men lining up to die.
I need to see her.
I push into the bedroom without knocking.
Raelyn is awake, sitting upright against the headboard, hair loose around her shoulders, eyes too sharp for someone who’s barely slept. She looks at me like she’s been waiting.
“Where were you?” she asks.
I don’t answer with words.
I cross the room in three strides and pull her into me, arms locking around her, holding her tighter than necessary. Her hands come up automatically, gripping my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll disappear if she doesn’t anchor me.
I press my mouth to her hair, inhale.
“Raelyn,” I say quietly. “Listen to me.”
She stiffens just enough to tell me she knows something’s coming.
“Reed didn’t lie about your father being dead,” I continue, forcing each word out carefully. “But he didn’t tell you the whole truth.”
Her breath catches.
“Your father wasn’t just hunted,” I say. “He was betrayed. Someone inside his own circle gave him up.”
She goes still.
Too still.